RE: 🐺 The effect of social media on society - an opinion piece
Relationships are by definition how 2 or more entities relate or regard or are connected to each other. How we form relationships depends on how we relate and interact with the other entity. The relationship and the identity you project to your co-workers, church, or Parent Student Association is different than the identity you project to your lover, frat brothers, or family.
Social media has become a platform where people can express or project to the world an image that they feel best represents them at that time or an image that is viewed positively by their intended audience. As we live in a world where reputation is the difference between being seen or not; people are much more interested in maintaining a public image that is positive in the social groups they interact within each platform.
I feel that different platforms open up new possibilities for humans to be able to interact with each other on different levels and be able to create new relationships as they interact, learn and experience life together. By giving having the ability to interact with various platforms in the digital arena it has given most humans a fractured personality so to speak. Whereas we only highlight the parts of our lives that are in line with the image our intended audience wants to hear. We try to constantly validate our reputation within the communities we engage digitally so that we can continue to be heard and or noticed. Hence the adding selfies on Facebook, writing of content for Steemit, meeting of new people on linked-in, or your steamy POF profile.
Herein lies the issue: the more digital presence and visibility one has the more relationships they enter into. Our brains only have enough attention to so many things in one day, and trying to maintain all of those digital identities take a lot of time! A larger quantity of interactions lowers the quality of those same interactions because there is less time per individual. So which relationship is bringing you the most benefit? Is listening to grandma talk about her family more important than taking that million dollar photo of the sunset to win a competition?
Wow! quite the impressive reply. Thank you so much! And I absolutely agree with most of what you said, and think we are almost pretty much in line. But about your second paragraph I still think the persona we put on social media does not necessarily represents the person best in their own eyes. I think that persona is what they think would show the audience exactly what they want to see in the hope that they will perceive you as being that persona.
Like I said in the blog social media has it's place and does indeed open new possibilities. It's just changing the dynamic of the intimacy with the people closest to you
(sorry for not replying in the same extend as your reply haha, but I'm beat. just answering replies before hitting the bed)
I hope there is more good interactions as well. I tried to sell reading this on my contest.
I saw indeed! thank you very much :) I hope a couple more see it too, but we'll see as it's still quite low in the reply list